Teach Gifted Kids Computer Programming Skills

Looking for some fun and challenging activities for your gifted students to do once school’s out? Why not challenge them with computer programming? The following sites offer advice for working with kids interested in computer programming:

• Scratch: This online design studio hosted by MIT allows kids to create their own stories, games, art, and music. Kids can post their creations on the site.
• Programming for Children, Minus Cryptic Syntax: This New York Times article discusses one parent’s journey teaching computer programming to his kids. 
• Teaching Your Kids How to Write Computer Programs: This article shares tips the author discovered in working with his own children who were learning computer programming skills.
• 10 Ways to Teach Young Kids to Write Computer Programs: This article provides tons of links to resources for helping kids write computer programs.

Have fun teaching your gifted kids this fun new skill!

Creating Real-World Opportunities for Gifted Students

As 21st-century skills and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) are increasingly emphasized in schools, gifted programs are being updated to keep pace. The middle school gifted program in St. Joseph, Missouri will soon begin working alongside local businesses to provide its students with real-world, hands-on opportunities. Students will use an interactive online component to work from their schools, and they will also learn from experts off-site to gain an understanding of robotics and innovation, life sciences and chemistry, leadership and problem-solving skills, and entrepreneurship and business principles. As students work with these mentors, they will develop strategies, use creativity, and shape innovative ways of serving the community. Those in charge of the program say they want students to gain a sense of community, become more empathetic, and get a better grasp of the real-world applications of STEM disciplines.

The shift in education from traditional methods to problem-based learning methods is based on a two-fold premise: first, that students will be more interested in learning if they can see real-world applications to what they are doing; and second, that they will be better prepared for real-world careers, and will have better developed interpersonal communication skills, if they have backgrounds in relevant areas and team-based projects.

For students whose schools do not offer programs like St. Joseph’s, opportunities for real-world learning can be found elsewhere, such as through mentors. The Davidson Institute for Talent Development offers tips not only for finding a mentor for your gifted child, but also for how to make the most of a mentorship—by making a collaboration focused on a specific goal, for instance, and by encouraging students to ask questions. Local mentors can be found through the National Mentoring Partnership and through The Mentoring Group, and in areas where mentors are scarce, the International Telementor Program can provide long-distance mentoring opportunities.

Gifted kids can seek out additional real-world opportunities through competitions, volunteer work, and summer programs. Hoagies’ Gifted Education page provides a comprehensive list of competitions that can capture students’ interest, and Duke University’s Talent Identification Program (TIP) offers tips about encouraging leadership in gifted kids through volunteer work, mentoring, and summer opportunities. Through these channels and others, students can capitalize on their interests and gain real-world experiences that challenge them and prepare them for future learning and professions.

Congress Seeks Disability Terminology Revision

After passing a law in 2010 that changed the term "mental retardation" to "intellectual disability," the U.S. Congress is continuing its move to update outmoded terminology relating to disability. Many of these terms have been in the laws since their inception, and are derived from other languages such as Latin. Today, however, as society is continuing to change its outlook on disability, so too are these terms being changed in the books. Though the changes will not have any wide-reaching effect on the laws themelves, they do reflect the ways in which disability is now perceived, and aim to remove any stigma that is associated with certain words that are no longer in regular use. Read more about these changes here.

Test Anxiety and the Gifted Student, Part 2

Several weeks ago, we posted a blog about test anxiety and gifted students, which had been discussed on Psychology Today. A followup piece giving tips on overcoming test anxiety was posted last week. In addition to distinguishing between two types of anxieties (the dread of the familiar or fish out of water), the author gives a few tips on how to work at overcoming test anxiety, which include:

• Ask yourself this question: Which kind of stress is my keystone?
• Familiarize yourself with a particular occasion and practice for it! 
• Take care of the body so that the mind can work effectively.
• Recall the last time you succeeded—or just get it out!
• Use what you know about the test to prepare effectively. 
• Visualize the potential positives.
• Eliminate the “what-ifs.”
• Focus on the moment.
• Consider breaking your typical routine.
• There is no instant (magical) cure to test/performance anxiety.

By using these steps, your students may begin to conquer the type of test anxiety that is preventing them from performing to the best of their abilities on test day.

Children’s Book Week

“A great nation is a reading nation.”

May 7–13 marks Children’s Book Week, which began in 1919. Each year, schools, libraries, stores, and museums around the nation celebrate this week with author and illustrator appearances and other fun events. This link highlights a few of the events around the country going on through May 13. Children can download the official bookmark, illustrated by Lane Smith (The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales).

One of the week’s highlights is the Children’s Choice Book Awards, the only national awards program in which children themselves choose the winners. This year’s winners were announced on May 7, and the finalists and winners are shared here. The books are categorized by grade level (Kindergarten to grade 2, grades 3–4, grades 5–6, and teen).

In addition, to help celebrate this exciting week of reading, Sylvan Dell Publishing is offering free access to all 70 of its eBook titles. What a great way to get children excited about reading!